


All That Blood

by PoliticalPadmé (magnetgirl)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Ficlet, Innocent Luke, Post-Star Wars: A New Hope, Pre-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Red Guard as Red Room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-08-30 00:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16754377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetgirl/pseuds/PoliticalPadm%C3%A9
Summary: Upon learning who is responsible for the destruction of the Death Star, Emperor Palpatine sends Natasha Romonov, one of his elite Red Guard, to kill Luke Skywalker.





	All That Blood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flipflop_diva](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/gifts).



> I am _here_ for this pairing and I hope you enjoy this little treat.

"Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red."  
― Kait Rokowski

 

The assignment was simple and straightforward. Infiltrate the Rebellion, kill Skywalker, report back to the Emperor. 

She expected the first part to be the most difficult, but the organization was, well, disorganized. The modified YT-1300 Corellian light freighter was easy to track through her smugglers connections - Han Solo had few friends in the underground, he's too honorable, wore his heart on his sleeve. Easy to betray, easy to track.

 And once found, the delusional, or desperate, Rebels accepted her with few questions or qualms. 

"Natalia Romanova, of ...Alderaan." She deliberately stumbled over the name of the planet, the better to sell her status as a refugee.

"You're a student at the Imperial Academy?" 

Natasha lowered her eyes, gave the slightest of nods. "For a year. But I couldn't remain after..." Again she allowed her composure to slip, her trembling voice to do all the work. She felt a hand on her shoulder, offering comfort, and knew she'd succeeded. Within the week she was on her way to a secret rebel base, and an audience with the princess turned traitor.

And that's when her simple assignment took an unexpected turn.

It's bad enough Skywalker turned out to be about as dangerous as a kitten. She was sold a vicious terrorist responsible for the death of thousands and what she got was a wide-eyed idealist who apologized to droids and was delighted by falling snow.

But the real problem was the girl. Natasha had imagined her spoiled, privileged, elevated to a position of power by wealth and connections, not skill or talent. But Leia is multifaceted, so much so that for a wild moment Natasha wondered if she could possibly be a member of the Red Guard gone rogue. But even that, even the strange sensation that she and Leia were not just alike but the same, and the disturbing realization that Luke trusted Natasha as if they were old friends — even then, she could and should be able to fulfill her mission. She'd encountered difficult targets before. It wasn't Luke's innocence or Leia's influence that caught her. 

"Natalia?" 

Leia rested a hand on her blaster before entering the room. Natasha smiled at the confirmation she wasn't so easily fooled.

"Do you like the opera?"

Leia frowned. "What?"

"I have memories of going to the opera." 

Slowly, carefully, Natasha lifted a long blade out of her boot and set it down on the floor between them.

"It was beautiful. Magical. The music washed over me and through me."

With each phrase she removed weapons concealed on her person and placed them on the floor.

"I felt it, in my bones. And everything was glowing, iridescent."

She tugged at the bright red tie around her ponytail and it came loose, her hair fell forward into her face as she dropped the tie next to the line of weapons at Leia's feet.

"It was so beautiful."

Finally devoid of her assassin's tools she raised her eyes to Leia's, narrowed and sharp, distrustful, as they should be.

"But I don't know if I was really there."

Leia's eyes flickered over the display and back to the woman who'd placed them. She had no presumption Natalia couldn't kill her with her bare hands, but symbolically she was de-armed, and vulnerable.

"Why are you telling me this?" 

Natasha straightened her shoulders, clasped her hands behind her back. "You have to be more careful who you trust. Your enemy is everywhere." 

"Hiding in something beautiful?" Leia suggested.

"Or its memory," Natasha whispered.

Leia shivered, her fingers twitching by her blaster. "Who sent you?"

"The Emperor wants Skywalker dead," Natasha answered in a flat voice.

"Luke…" Leia gasped. Of course, it made sense, but she was used to running from killers — he was still grappling with the idea of notoriety.

Natasha nodded, pleased, and no longer surprised, to see Leia understood.

"…Thank you," Leia murmured, stepping across the line of weapons to grasp the other woman's hands. Natasha startled at the touch, soft and warm. Something else she barely remembered. Nor did she know how to respond.

_Trust the Force._

Slowly she thread her fingers through Leia's, noted again how similar they were, and how different. In a rush she leaned close, crushed Leia's mouth with her own. The kiss was hungry, clumsy, messy, needy — 

And it saved her.


End file.
